World-beating Deakin student wins undergraduate award

Deakin University graduate Jessica Ciuciu has beaten out students from prestigious Yale, Harvard and Oxford universities to win a ‘Highly Commended’ award at the 2015 World Undergraduate Awards.

Jessica will travel to Dublin next month to accept her award and take part in the four-day Global Summit that adjoins the Awards ceremony.

The World Undergraduate Awards are the largest academic awards program in the world and celebrate the world’s best and most innovative undergraduate students. Students can enter up to three pieces of course research or project work prepared as part of their undergraduate studies.

Jessica, who graduated from Deakin University in 2015 with a Bachelor of Early Childhood Education, explained that her lecturer encouraged her to submit one of her essays from her final year of study.

“The essay was about the importance of partnerships between teachers and families in early childhood education,” Jessica said.

“It’s a topic that I find interesting, many amazing things can come from empowering families to recognise their significance in their children’s learning, and teachers are in a position to support this.”

Jessica has her sights set on a career as a Kindergarten teacher.

“Working one-on-one with children is very positive and very rewarding for both teacher and student and through my teaching rounds, I’ve found kindergartens are great at providing this environment.”

Professor Christine Ure, Head of the School of Education at Deakin University, congratulated Jessica on her success.

“With over 5,000 students from 39 countries submitting their work in 25 categories each year, Jessica’s ‘Highly Commended’ award in the Education category places her in the top ten per cent of undergraduate students globally,” Professor Ure said.

“The fact that the essay was one of Jessica’s regular assignments as part of her coursework really highlights the strength of our Bachelor of Early Childhood Education.”